Immigration, PEDs and Sex Scandals: I Don't Care

Holaaaaaaaa y’all! You know, there’s been a lot going on this week that has been covered pretty heavily in the news and on social media and this afternoon something suddenly hit me. I don’t really give a shit about most of it. I know some of this stuff is pretty important and shit, and maybe I should care on some level, but I just can’t.

PED Use in Sports: Don’t really care. I know, I know, “Kids look up to these pro athletes and want to be like them and will use PED’s if their favorite player does!” Don’t care. I know it’s always “Think of the cheeeeeeeeldren!” but, I just can’t get worked up over it.

I know that steroids are dangerous (probably) but it’s not like people are forcing Ryan Braun or A-Rod or anyone else to take HGH or steroids. They’re doing it on their own. If steroids cause their nuts to shrink or mess their minds up or make them shoot blanks then so what? It’s just like smoking, drinking and eating too much, we all know the risks.

The only thing the PED discussion does is give sanctimonious sportswriters the opportunity to wag the finger of indignation at everyone which is their favorite activity, of course.

Immigration: Come one, come all I say! Well, maybe not but pretty close. I know people who start talking about immigration and their faces turn red and I think they’re gonna have a heart attack within like five minutes. And while they’re doing that I’m sitting there shrugging my shoulders and saying “Yeah, I guess. Whatever.”

Want to build a fence? Go ahead. I don’t give a shit. Want to pass a “path to citizenship?” Okay, that’s probably a good idea. Want to round up all 11 million illegal immigrants up, stick them in the Astrodome and then “process them” and send “back where they came from?” Get real.

Basically the immigration debate is just a way for people to just go off on rants about brown people using all kinds of racist code words.

Political Sex Scandal: Oh sure these always start out fun. Anthony Weiner sent pics of his wee-wee to some chick? Hilarious! He used the online moniker “Carlos Danger?” Lacks creativity, but still pretty funny. Mark Sanford simply walks off the job as governor and goes to Argentina to spend a week with his mistress? Way cool!

The problem is that it never takes long before the discussion about these sex and sexting scandals become nothing more than partisan politics. All the conservatives who are “disgusted” by Anthony Weiner never had a word to say about Mark Sanford, David Vitter or even Larry Craig. And, everyone who was up in arms about Sanford think Weiner is getting the shaft. (Hey-OOOO)

The worst are the people out there who say “It’s just not right to make fun of Anthony Weiner because he has an addiction and addiction isn’t funny.” Oh bullshit! Addiction is hilarious. These are just people who basically support Weiner, but are embarrassed to admit so they come up with silly shit like that. Kind of like all the people who claim to be a Libertarian who are really just too embarrassed by the idiocy of the Republican Party to admit they’re a member.

Basically, the only thing the Weiner Sexting Scandal serves it to give sanctimonious political writers the chance to wag the finger of indignation at Weiner and anyone who might try to defend him, which is THEIR favorite activity, of course.

So now you’re probably wondering what I do give a shit about. Well, I tell ya, this story about NBA player and former Dukie J.J. Redick having an “Abortion and Relationship Contract” with some chick? Now THAT’S freaking awesome! I guess you have to sprinkle a little schadenfreude on my Scandal Burger to make it interesting to  me.

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Horse Racing is all Animal Abuse and Corruption

Hola! A few years back I had a coworker who had just turned 21. Like all just turned 21 year old, he wanted to do two things immediately. 1. Buy alcohol legally and 2. Gamble. So, he decided to take his girlfriend to Hot Springs, AR to go to the horse races. After he got back I asked him how he did and he told me that he pretty much lost all his money. Then he turned to me with a very confused look on his face and said “You know, several times when it looked like someone was cruising to victory, they would actually pull up and end up finishing out of the money.”

Imagine that. Horseracing … FIXED!? Say it isn’t so! Next you’ll tell me that boxing is fixed too.

I have been to the horse races several times. I’ve never really won any money at them because I don’t know

dick about it. I always buy the advice sheets, check the racing report in the paper and then take wild guesses as to which horse might win. But, I made a day of it, ate nachos, hot dogs, corned beef sandwiches and drank lots of beer to make up for the lack of winning. I enjoyed the races but there was always something about the whole thing that was kind of … unseemly.

Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to vices like drinking, smoking, sex and gambling, my libertarian side comes out. Do I know that gambling preys on the poor and that horse tracks (and especially dog tracks) attract a “bad element?” And do I know that in so many places horse tracks (and especially dog tracks) are surrounded by drug houses, strip clubs and adult “theaters?” Yes, and I don’t care.

The problem with horse racing is its level of corruption and the treatment of the horses. Anytime you have a sport that is mostly rich people competing and there is enormous amounts of money at stake, you’re gonna have a lot of cheating and corruption. I think as a society we’ve just accepted this kind of thing, but we really shouldn’t because it’s the greed and corruption that causes the abuse of the animals.

Owners and trainers shoot the horses up with all kinds ofdrugs and growth hormones so they can race them earlier and more often than they should. You might claim NFL, MLB and NBA guys are shooting up with HGH too and that’s true. But, humans have the ability to decide for themselves to take the risk of HGH and the oppoeable thumbs to give themselves the shot. Horses don’t have that. They have to just take it. Hundreds of racehorses are severely injured or killed while racing each year.

When you watch the Kentucky Derby you’ll see all kinds of video of retired racehorses living out their

twilight years in Horse Heaven. They get put out to stud and just run free in the bluegrass fields and have sex all day every day. But for every retired racehorse that is living that life hundreds, if not thousands are simply run until they completely breakdown and are then shipped off to the glue factory.

“These horses are born to run?” True, but they’re not born to race. They’re trained to race and that training is brutal. They start them before their bones have fully formed, shoot them full of drugs and run them hard very early and often. Once they are no longer any use to the owners, the horses are then disposed of. The lucky ones are placed at a retired horse park and do live good lives. But, the vast majority of them are sold off to other people who continue to try to make money off racing them (either legally or in illegal match races) or are sold off to people who will transport them to Canada, Mexico or Asia to be slaughtered.

It’s possible for someone to go to the races and enjoy the sport and the betting all that great stuff, but we all need to remember what we’re also supporting when we do so.

Jayman3768@gmail.com
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*On Thursday good friend of IWS Radio, Justin in Lexington will guest post here in support of horseracing.